Taʼthīr al-Tanṣīr wa-al-Istiʻmār fī Taʼākul al-Huwīyah al-ʻArabīyah wa-al-Islāmīyah fī al-Lughah al-Sawāḥilīyah wa-al-Hadaf tujāha Dhālika - Kāmī, Abū Yāsir Mbūrālī; Muʼtamar al-Istiqāmah al-Duwalī al-Thānī: al-ʻUmānīyūn wa-al-Sawāḥilīyah bayna al-Taʼthīr wa-al-Taʼaththur (2026) (Mumbāsā) (Mumbāsā : Jamʻīyat al-Istiqāmah al-Khayrīyah al-Islāmīyah al-ʻĀlamīyah, 2026)
This study treats the negative effects left by Western missionary activity and colonialism in the erosion of the Arab and Islamic identity of the Swahili language, a language Arab in origin in much of its vocabulary, its semantics and its culture — an erosion that markedly weakened the Arab and Islamic presence within its terminology. The problem of the research turns on the extent of colonial and missionary influence in removing Swahili from its Arabic roots and turning it into a language serving the interests of the church and an instrument of mission serving Western interests and frames of reference. The importance of the study lies in establishing the Arab presence in the countries of East Africa and their influence on Swahili, and likewise in showing the extent to which the scholars of the coast rose to defend the Swahili language against colonial and missionary designs.
Permanent citation identifier: MHF-MOMBASA2026-010.
Conference theme (in Arabic): المحور الثاني: التأثير والتأثر في السياق التاريخي والسياسي.
Text in Arabic; title also romanized (ALA-LC); abstract and keywords in English.
Keywords: Swahili; Colonialism; Missionary activity; Language and identity; East Africa; Cultural resistance